INCREDULITY TOWARD HEROISM: ACKROYD AS A GALLANT STORYTELLER AGAINST THE HEROIC TRADITION
Vol.9, Issue 2, 2023, pp. 207-224 Full text
DOI: https://doi.org/10.33919/esnbu.23.2.4
Web of Science: 001131896300004
Author:
Nazan Yıldız https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5776-0268
Affiliation: Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon, Türkiye 03z8fyr40
Abstract
Heroism as an unremitting subject conquers and even haunts literature as well as history. Historical and fictitious heroes are guiding spirits of human beings regardless of time and geography. Historians and writers have so sternly adhered to the ideals of heroism that this fascination has been transformed into hero worship dating back to antiquity, bringing heroism to the forefront as a metanarrative in history and literature. Particularly contributing to the undying predicament of literature caught between the ideal and the real, causes of heroism have been largely left unquestioned putting heroes in the shoes of a messiah. Peter Ackroyd (1949-), renowned for his historiographic metafictions fashioned within postmodernism, dares to challenge this unimpeached -ism in The Fall of Troy (2006). In the novel, Ackroyd rewrites the history of Troy and introduces an eccentric half-real hero, Heinrich Obermann, against celebrated heroes of history and literature. Accordingly, this paper reads heroism as a metanarrative and delineates how Ackroyd sketches an atypical hero by acting contrary to traditional heroism and heroic literary tradition in his vibrant postmodern parody, The Fall of Troy.
Keywords: Peter Ackroyd, The Fall of Troy, postmodernism, heroism, parody
Article history:
Submitted: 10 July 2023
Reviewed: 24 August 2023
Accepted: 22 September 2023
Published: 20 December 2023
Citation (APA):
Yıldız, N. (2023). Incredulity toward Heroism: Ackroyd as a Gallant Storyteller against the Heroic Tradition. English Studies at NBU, 9(2), 207-224. https://doi.org/10.33919/esnbu.23.2.4
Copyright © 2023 Nazan Yıldız
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Handling Editor: Boris Naimushin, PhD, New Bularian University
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